WORKSHOP AND RUNNING REPAIRS.
Page 29
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Interesting Tips from Our Driver and Mechanic Readers.
ASIMPLE but very useful home-made blow-pipe is described in a letter zwhich we have received from " of Letchworth. With a tool of this nature in the garage or workshop, it should be possible to do any kind of simple brazing, thus considerably reducing the cost of many running repairs.
The principal essentials are a tyre pump, preferably of the foot-operated type, and an old inner tube. The burner is made from a piece of brass tubing about I in. diameter having a nipple in. diameter let into the outer end. A couple of slots are cut in the wall of the tube to act as extra-air ports. The area of these ports can be regulated while the blow-pipe is in use by covering portions of them with the thumb and finger.
The pump is placed in any convenient position on the floor, and its delivery end coupled up to the valve on the inner tube in the ordinary way, just as if the tyre were about to be inflated.
A second valve—or, more strictly speaking, the body of a valve—must be fitted to the tube, as shown, to serve as an outlet to the blow-pipe. If desired, a tap can be fitted to it to enable the amount of air passing to the blowpipe to be regulated. A very small outlet only to this pipe is necessary, the exact size being determined by experiment. In the case of the apparatus illustrated in the sketch, the jet used was taken from an old carburetter and closed down a little— which gives some idea of the size of the aperture, which is all that is neces sary. The convenience of this apparatus, states " G.J.H.," has to be experienced to be believed. The pressure is easily maintained by occasional strokes of the pump, and the elasticity of the tyre keeps it .fairly constant. The operation of the outfit is more efficient than that of the ordinary bellows pump.
A USEFUL hint from " H.H." con cerns the ordinary bottle-type screwjack, which, when in operation, lifting a heavy weight is difficult to work owing to the friction between the revolving top and the face of the jack over which it turns.
The labour involved and the risks attendant on using this type of jack may be considerably minimized, according to " H.H.," if a ball-thrust race be fitted under the head, as shown in the sketch.
A. MOST unusual, and in many cases dangerous, expedient was adopted by
"
LB.,' of Soutlifields. to improve the running of the engine *if his vehicle when one of the plugs failed during the night, in circumstances. which compelled him to keep running, with only three cylinders in operation. He removed a valve cap from the disabled cylinder, and poured some oil on to the top of the piston. He then took a spring, of which he gives no particulars, and, after oiling it, mounted it inside the cylinder, securing it to the sparking plug in such 'a manner that it bore upon the surface of the ascending piston, and thus relieved the shock of reversal of motion by opposing the inertia effects.
No after trouble whatever resulted from this procedure, he says. and of course a new sparking plug was fitted, and the spring removed so soon as possible.
A SIMPLE but useful tip is for
warded by " MTh," of Highgate. A flat belt, he points out, may easily be mended by using an old hinge, such as may generally be found on the scrap-heap or lying about in one or other of the drawers in the garage. So simple and easy is a repair by this means that in the event of there being no suitable hinge lying about it is worth while to slip out and buy one for the purpose. Such hinges are cheap, costing only a matter of 2d. or so per hinge. The sketch shows how it should be fitted. The holes in the hinge should be tapped to take small countersunkheaded screws, which are put in from the underside of the belt, being screwed in until the heads are well below the surface of the belt, and then cut off and riveted over the hinge side. To facilitate the passage of the hinge over small pulleys, it is advisable tc bend it slightly.
OUR well-known contributor to this page, "H.A.B.," of Rotherham, had some little difficulty, in connection with the lock on a garage door, which he surmounted in rather an ingenious way, and it is more than likely that his tip will be of use to many readers. .
The doors of this particular garage were of the sliding type, measuring 10 ft. by 6 ft., and were, in the first place, fitted with a lock of corresponding proportions. To use "H.A.B.,'s " own words, "it was a hefty one," and had a key to match, which was, accordingly, anything but comfortable to carry about in the pocket. "H.A.B.'s " idea of a key is one of the Yale type, and he set about trying to make one of this kind do the job.
He first of all cut a square hole in the door, as shown in the sketch, fitting a small door in the gap, and equipping it with the much-to-be-desired Yale lock. The doors proper were then fitted with a substantial bolt, access to which was bad only after the small door had been opened.
IT frequently happens, remarks " H.H.S.," of Loughborough, that when white-metal bearings have been run, they are found to be spoiled by the presence of too many blow-holes. As a rule these are the result of the metal having been poured while there is scum on the top, which scum is often very difficult to remove, for as soon as one layer is scraped off, another forms. He has found that if a piece of tallow be dropped into the pot of molten metal it will take fire and burn the scum off.